Saving Kid Beggars From The Streets- The Role Of Stakeholders

I would be sounding hypocritical, if not outrightly ignorant, to suggest that the issue of panhandling(street begging) is only prevalent on the sandy streets of Ghana in general, and Accra in particular; because even in one of the most advanced countries like the ,United States of America, the issue of street begging continues to ‘rear its ugly head’. In 2015 for instance, an estimated FOUR THOUSAND people were reported to have been residing on the far more advanced streets of new york city alone, not to mention the total numbers on the streets of the entire state of new york, much less across the 50 states of the united states of America.

And, if our economic superior like the United States is still struggling on how to completely jettison the menace of panhandling from their enviable nation, quite clearly, completely evacuating panhandlers from the streets of Accra is, most predictably, not going to be witnessed anytime soon. More so as it comes on the heels of what is written in the scriptures, that “poor people will always be among us” (matt 26:11), because the human fingers we always say, will never and ever be the same.

Poverty is generally a state of the mind. But it is also fair to underscore the fact that not all individuals lands into poverty because of their own personal mismanagement or laziness. That is why I wouldn’t try to judge any poor person I come across, and that is also why I will always hasten slowly to judge people residing on the streets, because there are several factors that lands people in such predicaments.

Some individuals are on our streets because of mental ailments, some are there because of physical disability, and many others are also there due to their sheer acts of unscrupulous activities- by pretending to be who they’re not. On the latter score, though, I will like to leave it for another day.

Presently, the rampant spread of abled young adults with their kids on the streets of Accra is what has piqued my interest. For the abled men and women themselves, I have absolutely no problem with how they intend to earn their livelihood, especially when begging isn’t illegal in our Ghanaian laws. But even that, where one person’s right ends, is exactly the same point another person’s begins.

Arms giving in both its religious and practical application must be done voluntarily, and not out of compulsion. I am very much aware of how the doctrine of zakat is entrenched in the Islamic religion, to say the least about the freemason fraternity, who, I learnt also, holds the doctrine of charity very dearly. And as a Christian, I really know and understand the very importance of giving. And that, I think, is where many of these panhandlers take advantage of the situation.

Yes, you have every right to stay on the streets. And you also have every right to beg all your life, but to obstruct me on the streets because you want me to do you a favour is not only illegal, but at once unforgivably criminal. And the fact that it is not these abled parents, but their 3-10 year old children who are instructed to carry out these scandalous activities, makes it the more grievous.

You will find these kids around all the busy places in the capital, notably; The Accra mall, Lapaz, the ring road, Kwame Nkrumah circle, Accra central and all the other busy sites in the capital. You will see their parents normally sitting in shades with cloths covering their heads, whilst their kids move around in the sunny traffic and walkways, risking their lives to beg for coins. With personal experience in both traffic and walkways, these kids can really be a nuisance. They don’t mind soiling your white shirt and embarrassing you to give them money, because apparently, they’ve got to meet the targets set for them by their parents for the day, which unfortunately makes them suffer in the hands of impatient and quick-tempered passer-bys, ranging from slaps to kicks and many other inhumane treatments.

Agreed beggars can be found everywhere in the world, but the rate at which some nations jealously protects its’ children is unrivalled. If reported, a kid of a homeless parent would be hurriedly snatched from them to a proper place of abode, because these nations have always argued on the grounds that the child is the property of the state, and not solely the parents’. And I am aware the children’s homes in Ghana used to welcome kids of mostly parents with mental conditions into their fold. But what about the kids of these abled parents on the streets? Which countries’ citizens are they? Aren’t their situations a travesty? And shouldn’t their parents be questioned by the appropriate bodies?

I learnt and, I can also easily attest to the fact that those who started this phenomenon aren’t Ghanaians by descent, even if they have now acquired citizenship. Their skin colour and silky hairs are not of Ghanaian origin. They look exactly like citizens of some nations I wouldn’t want to mention for the purpose of stigmatization. But whatever the real case might be, they hold allegiance to a particular nation and their kids are supposedly the future leaders of the same.

I therefore appeal to both the Women and Children Affairs Ministry, and the Child Rights International to pick up these irresponsible parents, question them about their citizenship and facilitate the deportation of the illegal immigrants among them on the one hand, and, on the other, take away the kids from the parents with Ghanaian citizenship, ensure their safe evacuation to foster homes and enroll them in any of our ‘free’ public school systems in the country. Because the proverbial future leaders is not a preserve for the children of only critically savvy parents who knows the importance of jealously protecting and educating their kids, but every child in the nation as a whole.